Eli Lilly halts early-stage obesity drug LY4064912 after failing to meet development criteria

Eli Lilly announced it is ending development of its early-stage obesity candidate, LY4064912, after the phase 1 study did not achieve the company’s expectations.

The first‑in‑human trial enrolled 77 participants in sites across California, Texas and Singapore and included both healthy volunteers and individuals with overweight or obesity. The drug was to be administered by injection or infusion, though details of its mechanism were not disclosed.

Lilly confirmed the termination to Fierce and said the candidate did not meet its high bar for continued development. The company has recently stopped publicly listing early‑stage pipeline projects on its website and earnings releases.

Even with this setback, Lilly remains a dominant player in obesity treatment, with approved drugs Zepbound and Foundayo and a robust pipeline of later‑stage candidates such as retatrutide, which recently showed a 22.6% weight loss in a phase 3 trial.